Prognostic value of metabolic tumor volume and total lesion glycolysis on preoperative (18)F-FDG PET/CT in patients with localized primary gastrointestinal stromal tumors

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of pretreatment (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ((18)F-FDG PET/CT) in patients with localized primary gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) and to compare the predictive values of (18)F-FDG PET/CT parameters with those of clinicopathological prognostic factors. METHODS: Sixty-two localized GIST patients who underwent staging with (18)F-FDG PET/CT from January 2007 to December 2013 before surgery were retrospectively enrolled. A volume of interest with a standardized uptake value (SUV) threshold of 2.5 was used to determine the metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG). These metabolic indices, along with the maximum SUV (SUVmax), were analyzed to evaluate recurrence-free survival (RFS). Other significant clinical and pathologic indices were also retrospectively reviewed for RFS analysis. RESULTS: Patients were followed up for a median of 42.0 months (range, 5.6–111.5). During the follow-up period, 13 patients (21.0%) experienced disease recurrence. In univariate analysis, tumor size (> 5 cm), mitotic count (> 5/high-power field), modified National Institutes of Health (NIH) consensus criteria, adjuvant imatinib treatment, SUVmax (≥ 7.04), MTV (≥ 50.76 cm(3)), and TLG (≥ 228.79 g) were significant prognostic factors affecting RFS (p < 0.05). In multivariate analysis, only MTV (hazard ratio, 17.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.03–154.17, p = 0.009) and TLG (hazard ratio, 20.48; 95% CI, 2.19–191.16, p = 0.008) were independent prognostic factors for RFS. The 5-year RFS rates were 96.4% and 96.6% in patients with a low MTV and TLG and 27.3% and 23.6% in patients with a high MTV and TLG, respectively (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: MTV and TLG are independent prognostic factors for predicting recurrence in patients with localized primary GIST. Patients with a high MTV or TLG are at risk for poor prognosis and should be closely observed for disease recurrence. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40170-021-00244-x.